Former estate agent Chris Wood has raised a formal complaint to the industry regulator.
Wood, who ran PDQ Estates in Cornwall and now has a 3D filming business, has written to the National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team.
In it, he says: “I have now been under caution for over 12 months with no indication whether you are going to accept there is no case to answer or make a decision to interview or bring forward a case.
“In the interim, my business has ceased trading in no small part due to the damage and associated stress that the ASA ruling and NTSELAT’s utter incompetence in bringing the matter to a swift and timely resolution by either allowing me to clear my name in court or having NTSELAT confirming that there was no case to answer.
“My solicitor has received little to no engagement from you despite numerous requests.
“This is now a formal complaint. Please treat it as such. Please respond by return with the timescale and procedures within Powys Council [which administrates the estate agency regulatory scheme] with a view to this being escalated to the Local Government Ombudsman scheme.”
The case goes back to a complaint made not by an online agent but by an un-named individual against Wood to the Advertising Standards Authority.
It upheld the challenges to a tweet and two blogs which appeared on the PDQ Estates website.
Wood was ordered to take these down.
One of them he took down; this referred to his perception of sales rates by Purplebricks in Cornwall.
The other – which had already been up four years and argued against using cheap agents but did not name any – was slightly amended but left up.
As a result, the ASA reported him to the then regulatory body, NTSEAT, for possible enforcement action.
The blog that was left up can no longer be seen, as the PDQ Estates website no longer exists, having disappeared along with the business.
At the weekend, Wood told EYE: “NTSEAT put me under caution a year ago.
“They interviewed me under caution, and told me that I would remain under caution and that I could be interviewed formally again or prosecuted.”
Wood said he has since received no replies to questions as to what, if anything, will now happen.
We have approached the head of the regulator for comment.
I like Chris Wood a lot in terms of his standing up to things, however, there is a fundamental part to all of this. Here is was based in the far-flung **** end of Cornwall (beautiful County by the way) trying to fight the big boys upcountry and it was a fight he should have properly considered if his business was already vulnerable.
There are far too many agents getting massively distracted by things either outside of their control or best left to others to sort and my advice in the face of what Chris has experienced, is to just apply some self-preservation and inject your energy into making your own businesses better and more dominant and don’t take your eye off the staff that need your experienced leadership and better still your customers who are paying for a decent service.
In the meantime, I really wish Chris all the very best with his new venture which I note from his social media, he already credits for getting his mojo back.
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I do agree for the most part but why should it be outside of his control when it’s about him I can’t stand petty bureaucracy and they do need to be held to account for their action/inaction.
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“…things either outside of their control or best left to others to sort…”
Tarkers21 – I don’t think you could have been more off-point with that comment if you’d tried.
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I don’t see all of you lot who would have been benefiting from his pursuit to tackle the big the bad and the ugly, funding his business whilst he went off to conqueror that fight. He ran a single office business in Penzance with limited staff, what do you think happens when you take the main man out of the business, to go and fight thousands of other agents battles.
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That would make these message boards awfully quiet!
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Tarkers. Look after yourself and hope you still have a job in 10 years.
Great attitude. your either deluded or about to retire I hope.
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See told you, don’t tell these people to focus on themselves and get on with flogging houses, they don’t like it.
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I prefer to flog houses and not look after myself. Estate Agent industry has allowed Purplebricks and rightmove to destroy the industry. But hey, who cares?
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A handful of people that like to let everyone know just how much they care, that’s who.
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NTSLEAT POWYS Smacks of tokenism Going through the motions .
If you bring up a nationwide issue where alleged braeaches are taking place you have to start it off where you are geographically based and the local office where you are based and its up to them whether they refer it to Powys
Powys wont deal with it otherwise
For example if the issue arose in Newcastle and Liverpool but you are in Cornwall it starts in Cornwall on an issue which has occurred outside the local trading officer’s patch even though it might be online
It probably gets left convinientally in “pending”
Here is a response I had which unless you can show actual loss of money which is very difficult even though they made misleading statements
” There’s no guarantee this will get looked at, I’m afraid, since there is no actual consumer who has lost money or made a transactional decision based on the misleading information. It may turn out that, at this time, TS can’t take this on due to decreased capacity. I can try and influence that decision, by explaining that it’s a national problem, but I don’t get to make the final decision – it’s going to be up to that local authority, based on their capacity at present.
The last I heard from them was “My line manager will be in touch “They never did
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Of course Tarkers…..
“There are far too many agents getting massively distracted by things either outside of their control or best left to others to sort….”
Chris & others should just concentrate on breathing as that’s the most important thing.
“Others…?” …….are these the invisible others that talk a lot but actually do nothing?
I run a successful business and have chosen to speak up at times on certain matters, that’s my call, my time, my energy.
I don’t know the full background to Chris’s situation however, it’s Chris’s call to speak up or not. It’s how many people are, they have a opinion, they make it.
I got stopped by the Police for having a Dirty Number Plate, I challenged them, I pled Not Guilty, I wrote to the Procurator Fiscal to explain who wrote back with the threat of an increased fine? …… I said I’ll see you in court. The court threw out the charge!
Thing is, if I didn’t stand up, I lose. No one else was going to stand up for me.
So, as you have your opinion, I and others have theirs, so does Chris. It’s his call, he’s an adult.
As we see with “Others?” …. if they “Lawyer-Up” they can endeavour to control natural justice whether they are right or wrong.
In reality we all have a voice, it’s up to the individual whether to use it or not.
If Chris is in the right then I certainly commend him for speaking up.
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Is NTSEAT fit for purpose as from day one as it did not have the expertise or manpower? They Powys Council combined with Gwynedd Council were the only ones that put in a bid to take the job on out of all the councils offered to in the UK? Now Bristol City Council for lettings in England only. We hear very little of them being involved. They always seem to be a secretive organisation …. why?, maybe not, but you don’t hear much from them as a regulator. So many cases seem to have been taken up by local trading standards officers (no mention of NTSEAT involvement), which is where it used to be policed and still is!
The team is primarily responsible for the regulation of estate agency work in the UK and letting agency work in England, specifically:
overseeing the operation of relevant estate and letting agency legislation
issuing prohibition and formal warning orders to those found unfit to engage in estate agency work in the UK
approving & overseeing the UK’s consumer redress schemes, Ombudsmen, and Alternative Dispute Resolution entities in the estate agency sector
issuing guidance and advice for the public, businesses and enforcement authorities on estate agency work in the UK and relevant letting agency work in England.
It shouldn’t have taken a year, one can draw ones own conclusions. Having someone under caution for that length of time does effectively … shut them up while nothing has been proved!!!
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